CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
1. 1. Rationale
Proper pronunciation is the key to master any language. Whether vast
vocabulary and good grammar you have, communication becomes less effective
without correct pronunciation. Pronunciation is also a requisite for good listening
and speaking skills. If we pronounce a word incorrectly, do not pronounce the
ending sounds, choose an incorrect part of a word to give stress, or do not
pronounce the correct intonation, then the listener may misunderstand the meaning
of the word. These problems prevent students from achieving native-like English
and confidently speaking to native speakers or any good English users and even put
them in unexpected situations. Therefore, in order to speak English well, English
learners need to focus on pronunciation first.
In many Vietnamese universities and colleges, teaching specialized subjects in
English and setting English requirements for graduates is generally applied; Thuong
Mai University is not an exception. However, most first-year students of Thuong
Mai university’s English faculty have many difficulties and mistakes when they
pronounce English words, phrases, or dialogues. Even the students who have a long
history of learning English, when they apply their language skills in practice, they
still have problems with pronunciation errors, especially difficult consonants,
ending sounds, stress, and intonation rules. To further study this issue, the author
has conducted a study entitled “Problems in the English pronunciation of English
majored freshmen at Thuong Mai university and some suggested solutions.” This
paper hopes that English learners, especially the English majored freshmen of
Thuong Mai university, can recognize their problems in English pronunciation as
well as understand the importance of correct pronunciation, common errors in
pronunciation, and solutions to their problems.
1.2. Previous studies
Pronunciation has been studied for a long time and has become a science field.
However, research on pronunciation is not completed, and there is still a
tremendous amount of work to carry on. The previous studies pointed out that

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learners’ pronunciation problems are not given much concern, and investigations
into how to help learners correct their pronunciation have not been fulfilled yet.
In some periods, the pronunciation was considered extremely important, while
it did not draw much attention. Not until the 1890s, when the International
Phonetics Alphabet (IPA) was developed, pronunciation became a science study.
Although “Intelligible pronunciation is an essential component of communicative
competence” (Morley, 1991), Brown (1991) shown that pronunciation was still a
minimal skill in many language programs. He surveyed the number of documents
written on pronunciation in Applied Linguistics, Language learning, TESOL
Quarterly and ELT journal between 1975 and 1988 and concluding that only 11,9%
of articles were written on pronunciation. However, the last decade saw an increase
in the interest of teachers and scholars to accent. Surveys indicated the growth of
pronunciation literature in language textbooks (Orlando, 2013). Pronunciation is not
only about the individual sound. Intonation, stress, rhythm, connected speech
should be emphasized (Celce-Murcia et al., 2010). In recent years, research on
pronunciation has been more practical. Pronunciation problems of learners are
identified, which makes English acquisitions more efficient.
The studies on English pronunciation problems of Vietnamese people also
were conducted. Pronunciation errors recognized are related to ending sounds,
consonant sounds, stress (Ngo, 2009; Tuan, 2011; Thao, 2007). Researchers also
found reasons for the poor English pronunciation of most Vietnamese people. Ha,
C. T. (2005) pointed out that Vietnamese people encounter difficulties in learning
English because “Firstly, the English sound system has several sounds foreign to
Vietnamese speakers. Secondly, the way English speakers pronounce the ending
sounds is completely different from the one deeply rooted in Vietnamese speakers”.
In Ha, C.T. (2005), students from an examination room were surveyed. There were
about 20 English-majored students, and most of them were female. The researcher,

also the examiner, collected data from students’ performance in the final oral exam.
The results showed that those students often omitted ending sounds and
mispronounced /z/; /ʒ/; /dʒ/; /θ/; /ð/. The main reason is the affection of the mother
tongue. However, the study is not fulfilled and does not suggest any solutions.

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Based on prior research, the author carries on the study to investigate the most
typical pronunciation problems facing English-majored first-year students at
Thuong Mai University and suggests some solutions.
1.3. Aims of the study
This study is written to improve the pronunciation of students at Thuong Mai
University. Generally, it aims at:
- Determining pronunciation problems facing English-majored freshmen at
Thuong Mai University.
- Suggesting some practical solutions to overcome these obstacles and enhance
pronunciation.
1.4. Research subjects
The research subjects are problems in English pronunciation. The participants
of this study included the first-year students at the English faculty of Thuong Mai
University. Those students have just left high schools, and their pronunciation is
weaker than others at English faculty.
1.5. Scope of the study
Pronunciation is a vast field, including consonant sounds, vowel sounds, word
stress, sentence stress, etc. Regarding its broad scope, the research focuses on
identifying problems in some consonant sounds, some vowel sounds, and consonant
clusters of English-majored freshmen at Thuong Mai University. The other parts of
English pronunciation are not investigated.
Research is conducted in semester 1 (2020-2021). Due to the researcher's

limitation of time and ability, this study investigated pronunciation problems of only
50 students from K55 of Thuong Mai University's English faculty. They are both
female and male from rural and urban areas. These students took part in a survey
and were required to answer questions and record their English.
1.6. Research of methodology
The research was conducted to gather data to answer the following question:
- What are problems in pronunciation of English- majored freshmen at Thuong
Mai University?
- What are techniques or strategies to improve their pronunciation?

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This research is designed to apply both quantitative and qualitative methods.
Its purpose is to identify the problems in the English pronunciation of freshmen
based on collecting and analyzing data from the recording and the survey
questionnaire. The quantitative data was mostly collected from the survey
questionnaire. To answer the questions of this study, the author collects data from
students. As the survey questionnaire was created with the superior's significant
advice, it covered all issues needed to collect data. The questionnaire sheets were
handed out to the students from K56, and then it was collected and processed.
On the other hand, the recording provided qualitative data. The researcher
recorded these students' English pronunciation by giving them some pronunciation
exercises and asking them to pronounce English words and sentences. At the same
time, observing and recording theirs mistakes carefully.
1.7. Organization of the study
This study is divided into four chapters: Overview of the study, literature
review, research findings, recommendations, and suggestions.
- Chapter 1 gives an overview of the study in which rationale, previous
studies, aims of the studies, research questions, research subjects, scope of the

study, research methodology, and the organization of the study are briefly presented.
- Chapter 2 reviews literature relating to the study, including definitions of
pronunciation. In this chapter, some pronunciation aspects are presented, and
common English pronunciation problems of Vietnamese people are shown. From
that, suggesting some solutions.
- Chapter 3 discusses the methods used in the research. It also concludes the
results of the survey. English majored freshmen's common English pronunciation
problems and pointing out the most effective pronunciation techniques.
- Chapter 4 is about the limitations of this research and gives some
recommendations for the subsequent studies.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Definition of Pronunciation
Pronunciation is one of the vital skills and the basis of oral communication for
English learners at all levels. There would be no oral language and no verbal
communication without pronunciation, so what is pronunciation?
Many authors with different perspectives have answered this question in
several ways. According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Encyclopedic (1992:718),
pronunciation is shortly defined as “how a language is spoken.” Dalton &
Seidlhofer (1994:1) stated that pronunciation refers to “the production of sounds
that we use to make meaning. It includes attention to the particular sounds of a
language (segments), aspects of speech beyond the level of the individual sound
such as intonation, phrasing, stress, timing, rhythm (suprasegmental aspects), how
the voice is projected (voice quality), and, in its broadest definition, attention to
gestures and expressions that are closely related to the way we speak a language”.
AMEP research center (2000) gave another definition: “Pronunciation refers to

the production of sounds that we use to make meaning. It includes attention to the
particular sounds of a language (segments), aspects of speech beyond the level of
the individual sound, such as intonation, phrasing, stress, timing, rhythm
(suprasegmental aspects), how the voice is projected (voice quality) and, in its
broadest definition, attention to gestures and expressions that are closely related to
the way we speak a language.”
Richards et al. (2001:175) indicated that: “Pronunciation (as known as
phonology) includes the role of individual sounds and sound segments, that is,
features at the segmental level as well as supra-segmental such as stress, rhythm,
and intonation.”
There are so many diverse definitions of pronunciation, and pronunciation has
several segmental and suprasegmental aspects. Yet only a small part of
pronunciation is taken into the research.

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2.2. Standard English Pronunciation
It is recorded that English is globally used as it is the official language in 67
countries out of 195 countries worldwide (Wikipedia, 2015). It is the international
language that serves as an official language in the Union Nations. Therefore, there
are many English, such as American English, British English, and Australian
English, to name a few. Roach (2000) stated that “One of that everybody knows
about languages is that they have diverse accents. They are pronounced differently
by people from different geographical places, from different social classes, of
different ages and different educational backgrounds”. The UK is an example. There
are many different English accents, but the range becomes very much more
comprehensive if Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are considered. As a result,
a Standard of English was set for English learners to follow.
Steven in Larry Smith’s edition (1983:88) defined Standard English as “a

particular dialect of English, being the non-localized dialect, of global currency
without any significant variation, universally accepted as the appreciate educational
target in teaching English, which may be spoken with an unrestricted choice of
accent.” In other words, Standard English can be any dialect of English that is
acknowledged in their countries in the world. However, Vietnamese people and
many people from different countries tend to learn RP (received pronunciation),
which is “the accent used by most announcers and newsreaders on serious national
and international BBC broadcasting channels” (Roach, 2000). In this study, the
researcher will use RP as the criteria for investigating students’ problems in their
pronunciation. The IPA will be used to transcribe the speech samples throughout the
research.
2.3. Aspects of Pronunciation
Pronunciation is a broad field, so the following is just a tiny part of it to give
the research background.
2.3.1. Articulatory phonetics
2.3.1.1. Articulators
Dale and Poms (2005:4) considered the articulators as different parts of the
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mouth area that we use when speaking, such as lips, tongue, teeth, and jaw, to name
a few. However, articulators are not only parts of the mouth.
According to Wikipedia, “The field of articulatory phonetics is a subfield of
phonetics. In studying articulation, phoneticians explain how humans produce
speech sounds via the interaction of different physiological structures. Generally,
articulatory phonetics is concerned with the transformation of aerodynamic energy
into acoustic energy.
Aerodynamic energy refers to the airflow through the vocal tract. Its potential
form is air pressure: its kinetic form is the actual dynamic airflow. Acoustic energy
is variation in the air pressure that can be represented as sound waves, which are

then perceived by the human auditory system as sound.”
Articulators include several different parts: nose, upper lip, lower lip, upper
teeth, lower teeth, alveolar ridge, tongue, hard palate, soft palate, velum, pharynx,
and larynx.
2.3.1.2. Production of speech sounds
Kelly (2000:5) describes the production of speech sounds: “When we are
making sounds, the air from the lungs comes up through the wind-pipe and arrives
first at the larynx. Then it goes through the vocal cords into the pharynx and up the
pharynx to the uvula. At this point, it may go in either way. It may go into the oral
cavity (if the soft palate is raised) and go out of the mouth. Or it may go into the
nasal tract (if the soft palate is lowered) and get out through the nostrils”.
i, Oral sounds and nasal sounds.
Oral sounds: In the process of making sounds, at the uvula, if the soft palate
is raised, blocking off the nasal tract, the airstreams can only go into the oral tract
and go out of the mouth, then we have verbal sounds. e.g., /g/, /s/.
Nasal sounds: In the process of making sounds, if the airstream is blocked
somewhere in the oral cavity, but the soft palate is lowered so that the airstream can
get into the nasal tract and get out through the nostrils, then we have nasal sounds.
e.g., /m/, /n/.
ii. Consonant and vowel sounds.
Consonant sounds: When we are making sounds, if two articulators come
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together, obstructing the airstream cannot get out freely, we have consonant sounds
e.g., /k/, /f/, /b/, /m/.
Vowel sounds: When making sounds, if there is no obstruction to the airflow
as it passes from the larynx to the lips and the air can get out freely, we have
consonant sounds.
e.g., /ә/, /u/, /ӕ/, /ʌ/

iii. Voiced and voiceless sounds.
Voiced sounds: When we are producing sounds, the airstream goes through
the vocal cords. If the vocal cords come together, obstructing the airstream, the
airstream cannot get out through them freely, and it makes them vibrate, then we
have voiced sounds.
e.g., /d/, /v/, /m/.
Voiceless sounds: When we are making sounds, the airstream goes through
the vocal cords. If the vocal cords come apart, they are open. The airstream can go
out through them freely, and it does not make them vibrate, then we have voiceless
sounds.
e.g., /s/, /t/, /p/.
2.3.2. English sounds
There are 44 sounds in English. They are divided into 20 vowels, including 12
pure vowels and 8 diphthongs, and 24 consonants.
2.3.2.1. Vowel sounds
Roach (2000:10) defined vowels as “sound in the production of which there is
no obstruction to the flow of air as it passes the larynx to the lips”. There are 20
vowels divided into 12 monophthongs and 8 diphthongs.
a. Pure vowels (monophthongs)
“A vowel which remains constant and does not glide is called a pure vowel.”
(Roach 2000: 28). Vowels are different from each other. According to Roach (2000),
vowels are classified by four criteria:
*Tongue height
-

High vowels are produced when the tongue is high in the mouth: /ʊ/, /u:/,

/ɪ/, /i:/.
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-

Low vowels are produced with the tongue below its rest position: /ʌ/,

/ɑ:/, /æ/, /ɒ/.
- Mid vowels are produced with the tongue either high or low in the mouth:
/e/, /ə/, /ɜ:/,/ɔ:/.
*Part of the tongue which is raised
-

Front vowels: The front of the tongue is the highest point: /æ/, /e/, /ɪ/, /i:/.

-

Back vowels: The back of the tongue is the highest point: /ʊ/, /u:/, /ɔ:/, /ɒ/, /ɑ:/.

-

Central vowels: The center of the tongue is the highest point: /ʌ/, /ə/, /ɜ:/.

*Degree of lip rounding
-

Rounded vowels: The corners of the lips are brought towards each other

and lips are pushed forward: /ʊ/, /u:/, /ɒ/, /ɑ:/, /ɔ:/.
-

Unrounded vowels: The corners of the lips are moved away from each


other as for a smile: /ɜ:/, /ʌ/, /ə/.
-

Neutral vowels: The lips are neither rounded nor spread: /æ/, /i:/, / ɪ /, /e/.

*The length of the sounds:
-

Short vowels: /ʌ/, /æ/, /ə/, /e/, /ɪ/, /ɒ/, /ʊ/.

-

Long vowels: /ɑ:/, /ɜ:/, /i:/, /ɔ:/, /u:/.

b. Diphthongs
According to Roach (2000), diphthongs are “sounds which consist of a
movement or glide from one vowel to another”.
English has 8 diphthongs easily divided into 3 groups as follow:

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Diagram 2.1:English diphthongs( by Roach 2000)
They are also divided into centering diphthongs (/eə/, /ɪə/, /ʊə/) - gliding
towards the (schwa) vowel- and closing diphthongs (/aɪ/, /aʊ/, /eɪ/, /oʊ/, /ɔɪ/) gliding towards a closer vowel.
2.3.2.2. Consonant sounds
In English phonetics and phonology (Roach 2000:10), the term “consonant” is
defined as “sounds in which there is a blockage to the flow of air as it passes the
larynx to the lips”.

In English, there are 24 consonants: b/; /d/; /f/; /g/; /h/; /j/; /k/; /l/; /m/; /n/;
/ŋ/; /p/; /r/; /s/; /ʃ/; /t/; /tʃ/; /θ/; /ð/; /v/; /w/; /z/; /ʒ/; /dʒ/.
Consonants are often classified in 3 ways:
a. The place of articulation.
The place of articulation is the location of the obstruction of the airstream in
the articulation of consonants.
- Bilabials are the sounds made with the two lips pressed together or coming
together, including: /p/, /b/, /m/, /w/.
- Labio-dentals are the sounds produced with the lower lip touching the upper
front teeth, including: /f/, /v/.
- Dentals are the sounds produced with the tip or blade of the tongue touching
the upper front teeth, including: /θ/, /ð/.
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- Alveolars are the sounds which are produced with the tip or blaze of the
tongue touching or approaching the alveolar ridge, including: /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /n/, /l/.
- Retroflex is the sound produced with the tip of the tongue curling back
towards the back of the alveolar ridge, including: /r/.
- Palato- alveolars are the sounds produced with the tongue tip or blade
coming close to the area between the back of the alveolar ridge and the front of the
hard palate, including: /ʃ/, /tʃ/, /ʒ/, /dʒ/.
- Palatal is the sound produced with the tongue’s front coming close to the
hard palate, including: /j/.
- Velars are the sounds produced with the tongue’s back touching the soft
palate, including: /k/, /g/, /ŋ/.

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- Glottal is the sound produced without the tongue’s active users and other
parts of the mouth, including /h/.
b. The manner of articulation.
Manner of articulation is how the airstream is obstructed or altered in the
production of speech sounds.
- Nasals are the sounds produced with the airstream being stopped in the oral
cavity, but the soft palate is down so that the air can go out through the nose,
including: /m/, /n/, /ŋ/.
- Plosives are the sounds, which are produced with the airstream being stopped
in the oral cavity and the soft palate is raised blocking off the nasal cavity,
including: /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/.
- Fricatives are the sounds in the production of which two articulators come
close together. However, there is still a small opening between them, so the
airstream is partially obstructed, and an audible friction noise (a hissing sound) is
produced, including: /f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, /h/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /θ/, /ð/.
- Affricates are the sounds produced when a fricative immediately follows a
plosive. They begin like a plosive, with complete closure, but instead of a plosion,
they have a very slow-release, moving backward to a place where friction is heard
(palate-alveolar), including: /tʃ/, /dʒ/.
- Lateral is the sound made when the airstream is obstructed at a point along
the center of the oral tract, with incomplete closure between one or both sides of the
tongue and the roof of the mouth, including: /l/.
- Approximants are the sounds in the production of which two articulators
come close together but without the vocal tract being narrowed to such an extent
that a friction noise is produced, including: /r/, /w/, /j/.
2.4. Common problems in pronunciation of Vietnamese people.
Vietnamese learners face several pronunciation problems, and below are the
issues which are investigated in this research.
2.4.1. Problems with vowels.
Mother tongue has considerable influence on learning English pronunciation


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of Vietnamese people. In Honey (1987), English and Vietnamese vowel systems
have some similarities. Some Vietnamese language alternatives to the pure closet
vowel in pronouncing the pure vowel in English, such as lam /lam/ for lime and
luc /lúc/ for look. Pronouncing that way, Vietnamese speakers face several problems
when speaking English.
Avery and Ehrlich (1992) showed that “the distinction between tense and lax
vowel pairs of English almost always creates problems.” They also found that
second language learners could pronounce “neither the tense nor the lax vowel, but
a vowel between the two. Failure to make these distinctions can lead to
misunderstandings”. Like that, almost all Vietnamese learners of English
erroneously pronounce the two vowels of each pair. For example, when Vietnamese
speakers pronounce these words like sleep, taste, and stewed, English native
speakers may hear slip, text, and stood instead.
2.4.1.1. Problem with /i:/ versus /I/.
Vowel /ɪ/ is quite frequently spelled as letter [i] in Vietnamese, and since
Vietnamese rely on spelling to produce the English sounds, they are prone to
confuse /ɪ/ for /i:/. Most of the students could not distinguish the differences
between these sounds, such as “seat” and “sit”, “sheep” and “ship”. Although many
people realize a difference between them due to the /i:/ sound is more prolonged
than /I/ sound, they pronounced both sounds the same when pronouncing them.
2.4.1.2. Problem with /u:/ versus /u /.
Problems with /u:/ and /u / similar to the issues with the /i:/ and /I/ sounds,
some students learned how to pronounce the /u:/ and /u/ sounds but were unable to
distinguish between them. Nevertheless, many English words containing “oo” be
pronounced as neither /u / nor /u:/, which can confuse many Vietnamese learners.
As a result, many students projected the same sound for both /u:/ and /u /. An

example is that the word ‘good’ is pronounced /gud/. In contrast, the word ‘pool’ is
pronounced /pu:l/.
2.4.1.3. Problem with /e/ versus /æ/.
Some Vietnamese students cannot spot the vowels/e/ and /æ/, such as in bed

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and bad (Avery and Ehrlich, p. 156). It is considered the most serious problem of
almost Vietnamese English speakers when learning to speak English vowels.
According to Avery and Ehrlich (p.99), students often pronounce these two vowels
in the same way. Students usually fail to lower their tongue and jaw far enough in
attempting to produce the /æ/ sound”. For example, 'bag' / bæg / is often mistaken
for / beg /, or 'hand' / hænd / is mistaken for / hend.
2.4.2. Problems with consonants
The Vietnamese consonant system is extremely distinct from that of English,
and there is a considerable change between dialects. English learners in Viet Nam
can be expected to come across particular difficulty with some or all of the
following sounds: /f/, /θ/, /ð/, /z/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/, /ʒ/, /dʒ/".
- Problem with final voiceless stop consonants /p/, /t/, and /k/:
which occurs at the end of a word in Vietnamese. However, they pronounce
these consonants with concise duration, which is very difficult for English native
speakers to hear these sounds from Vietnamese speakers. For example, a
Vietnamese learner of English pronounces the word seat may sound like see.
- Problem with liquid /l/ and nasal /n/:
Both sounds exist in the Vietnamese language. However, many Vietnamese
people, especially those who live in the north of Vietnam, such as Hai Phong, Hai
Duong, Quang Ninh, Bac Giang, Bac Ninh, or suburban Hanoi..., cannot distinguish
the differences between /l/, /n/ in their national language. Therefore, when they
speak English, they always struggle with the two sounds (Nguyen Tien Dung, 2014,

For example, say /ləʊ/ for the word no (/nəʊ/) or /laɪn/ for nine (/naɪn/), or they may
say /ˈsnəʊ.li/ for the word ‘slowly’ (/ˈsləʊ.li/).
- Problem with /θ/, /ð/:
Vietnamese people are often used to creating a heavily voiceless stop /t/
instead of a voiceless fricative /θ/ in a word like ‘thank’. They pronounce the
sound /t/ based on their language because in Vietnamese, the letter’ th’ is combined
by a heavily aspirated /t/. Therefore, the word ‘three’ can be vocalized exactly like
‘tree’. Vietnamese English learners commonly vocalize /d/ or /z/ for /ð/ sounds, so
the word then may read similar to /dæn/ or /zæn/ (Avery and Ehrlich, 1992, p. 155).
14


2.4.2.1. Problems with final consonants
Like other Asian speakers, Vietnamese speakers have trouble pronouncing
words ending with consonants; they are usually confused with final consonants.
Therefore, they delete or substitute most of them. The consonants Vietnamese
students commonly struggle with are: /z/, /s/, /t/, /v/, /ks/, /ʤ/. However, the most
popular failures may be problems between consonant /s/ and /z/. Many people
usually omit /s/ sound in the spelling of some words. While as many speakers
encounter is the redundancy of the /s/ sound. Mr. Dung ( 2014) also agreed that
Vietnamese don’t use /s/ and /z/ sounds at the final position in Vietnamese words,
which is different from English. As a result, many Vietnamese English learners are
over aware of these sounds, and over-awareness leads them to make pronunciation
mistakes. Vietnamese people often add the /s/ sound in both adjectives and
noncount nouns. For instance, instead of saying “very good”, many Vietnamese
speakers say “very goods,” and “a lot of money” sounds like “a lot of moneys”.
2.4.2.2. Problems with voiced-voiceless distinction
Vietnamese people are often confused with voiced and voiceless consonants
and thus mispronounce them. As such, Vietnamese speakers can alternate a voiced
stop /b/ or a voiceless fricative /f/ for /p/. Examples of this are that the word ‘pool’

may sound like ‘fool’, and ‘pop’ may sound like ‘bop’. On the contrary, in the final
positions, these consonants often provoke confusion for learners. For example, ‘lab’
might sound like ‘lap’ (Avery and Ehrlich, 1992, p. 155).
2.4.2.3. Problems with silent sounds
Many words in English contain silent sounds. However, Vietnamese speakers
often mispronounce them by producing English sounds based on their spelling
( Honey P. J. (1987)). Some common failures such as pronounce the ‘b’ in “climb”
(/claym/), “debt” (/det/), or pronounce “d” in Wednesday (/wenzday/).
2.5. Techniques to improve English pronunciation.
Some numerous techniques or strategies are proposed by linguistics in their
phonetics books or the other English learners from their experience. Below are

15


several of the most used methods.
2.5.1. Doing pronunciation exercises
Aim: Only learning theoretical knowledge about English pronunciation from
textbooks would not help students achieve good accent. Doing phonetics exercises
is the best way for students to recall what they have learned and strengthened their
pronunciation skills.
How: There are numerous pronunciation exercises on the internet or textbooks
for students to choose from.
Example:
I.

Write the appropriate words.

1. [' kɪŋ ]


2. [ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ ]

3. [ˈspænɪʃ ]

4. [ˈbrʌðə(r) ]

5. [ˈærəʊ ]

6. ['hɔ:(r)s ]

7. [ˈfəʊtəɡrɑ:f ]

8. ['dɒɡ ]

9. [ˈtelɪˌvɪʒnn̩ ]

10. ['dʒi:p ]

II. Choose the correct words.
11. [' kæt ]

cat

cut

cot

12. [' ʃɪp ]

cheap


ship

sheep

13. [' hæt ]

hut

hat

hot

14. [' li:v ]

live

life

leave

15. [' θɪn ]

thing

think

thin

2.5.2. Listening and imitating

Aim: Native-like pronunciation is the ultimate goal that all English learners
aim to. This technique improves the listening skills of students. However, in the
meantime, it can help students recognize the distinction between their pronunciation
and the pronunciation of English native speakers. Therefore, pronunciation errors
are recognized, and students can fix these errors by imitating native speaker
pronunciation. Furthermore, students’ English accents are also modified to be more
native-like.
How: There are plentiful sources of English videos or soundtracks that can be
used. However, English videos or soundtracks made by English native speakers are
more recommended, such as CNN news, BBC news, English movies, English
16


songs, and other English videos and soundtracks. The student should pay attention
to the videos and soundtracks and imitate them.

17


2.5.3. Reading aloud and clearly while recording produced sounds.
Aim: This technique is one of the most efficient techniques. However, it
consumes a significant amount of time and requires enormous determination.
Reading aloud helps students feel more confident when speaking English and avoid
concealing pronunciation errors. Recording what they say can help students
recognize these errors and compare them to English native-speakers accents to see
the difference between their English speaking. Therefore, students can amend their
pronunciation to become more English native-like.
How: Students can prepare a computer equipped with recording software and
a headphone or just a smartphone and recording applications. Then, an English
paragraph or an English video, to name a few, should be chosen. After that, students

read aloud while recording what they speak. Finally, they should listen to their voice
and concentrate on their pronunciation errors and fix them.

18


CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS

3.1. Participants of the research
To conduct this study, the researcher invited 50 students from K55N of TMU
(the academic year 2020-201). They are both boys and girls with different accents
and from other provinces of Vietnam.
3.2. Data collection instructions
The study has been conducted in quantitative and qualitative methods to
answer the research question in Chapter 1 to reduce the potential limitations of
using only a single approach. The researcher collected two different kinds of data
employing the recording and the survey questionnaire.
3.2.1. The recording
The recording is considered the most effective instrument to investigate the
problems in the English pronunciation of students. Recording the students' Englishpronounced sounds was easy for the researcher to estimate the English
pronunciation skills of each of them. Each student was given one pronunciation
exercise (see Appendix 1) and asked to pronounce every word. Meanwhile, the
audio recorder application was turned on, and the researcher placed the phone near
students for the excellent quality of the sound recordings. The typical pronunciation
errors determined from the recording helped the researcher investigate the most
challenging areas of pronunciation.
3.2.2. The Survey questionnaire.
Because the recording cannot provide all data and information on subjects'
pronunciation level and learning experience, the survey questionnaire (see
Appendix 2) was designed to collect those data. A list of questions was written

appropriately to answer the research questions initially addressed. The question list
contained 13 questions and was divided into two parts. The first part includes eight
questions on students' background information about English pronunciation skills.

19


The other is students' opinions about problems in pronunciation and suggestions to
improve their pronunciation.

20


The study has been conducted in quantitative and qualitative methods to
answer the research question in Chapter 1 to reduce the potential limitations of
using only a single approach. The researcher collected two different kinds of data
employing the recording and the survey questionnaire.
3.3. Data analysis procedures
With the data collected, the researcher implemented a data analysis procedure.
The quantitative data gathered in the survey questionnaires were converted into
percentages and showed in charts and tables. Relating the result of recording
participants' pronunciation, the researcher listened carefully, then analyzed and
discussed them to find the English pronunciation problems of English-majored firstyear students at TMU and the best solutions to improve their pronunciation.
Data analysis was conducted through excel, which is known as one of the most
popular spreadsheet software that enables the calculation. Therefore, the researcher
chose to use Excel to enter the data, formulas, and functions into the worksheet.
After calculating automatically, it is necessary to format the worksheet and
embed pie charts and bar graphs to display the results. Hence, the charts and
supporting data appeared to present exact percentages. Besides, the word was also
employed as a standard method to create a simple table. Those charts showed

uncomplicated data and information which other people could easily understand
they were.
After finding the study's answers, the researcher concluded the results of the
research, writing the thesis paper to present all the findings and results of this study.
3.4. Results from recording
From the recording, the researcher found several pronunciation errors. Below
are the most common mistakes that the researcher discovered.

21


a. Problems with vowel sounds
Target

Target

Mispronounced

Frequency

words

transcription

transcription

of errors

Coupons


/ˈkuːpɒnz/

/kəʊpəns/

46/50

92

Dough

/dəʊ/

/dɒf/

43/50

86

Bough

/baʊ/

/bɒf/
/

39/50

78

Cork


/kɔːk/

kək/, /

29/50

58

Clothe

/kləʊð/

kɒk/, /kɜːk/
/clɒθ/

27/50

54

Word

/wɜːd/

/wəd/

30/50

60


Bead

/biːd/

/bid/

14/50

28

Work

/wɜːk/

/wək/

16/50

32

Bird

/bɜːd/

/bəd/

9/50

18


Sheep

/ʃiːp/

/ʃip/
8/50
Table 3.1: Vowel sound errors

16

Percentage (%)

b. Problems with consonant sounds
Frequenc

Target

Target

Mispronounced

words

transcription

transcription

/ˈʃəʊvɪnɪzəm/

/tʃəʊvɪnɪzəm/


50/50

100

/ˈtʃeləʊ/

/seləʊ/

49/50

98

Hiccough

/ˈhɪkʌp/

/hikɒf/, /haikɒf/

41/50

82

Pizza

/ˈpiːtsə/

/piza/;/pizə/

37/50


74

Islands

/ˈaɪləndz/

/aɪslənd/

38/50

76

Colleague

/ˈkɒliːɡ/

/kɒlɪdʒ/

43/50

86

Clothe

/kləʊð/

29/50

58


Sword

/sɔːd/

/kləʊz/;/klɒð/
/swɔːd/; /swəd/; /sw ɜː

23/50
d/
/wɪʃ/
/wɪs/
21/50
Table 3.2: Consonant sound errors

46

Chauvinis
m
Cello

Wish

22

y of
errors

Percentag
e (%)


42


23


c. Problems with ending sounds
Target

Target

Mispronounced

Frequency

Percentage

words

transcription

transcription

of errors

(%)

Mastered


/ˈmɑːstəd/

/mɑːstə/

27/50

54

Coupons

/ˈkuːpɒnz/

/kuːpən/;/kəʊpəns/

21/50

42

Islands

/ˈaɪləndz/

/aɪlənd/;/aɪlənds/

19/50

38

Traps


/træps/

/træp/

14/50

28

Develops

/dɪˈveləps/

/dɪveləp/

10/50

20

Table 3.3: Ending sound errors
Both 50 students participated in the recording, and no one pronounced English
words without making mistakes. The researcher noted that they hesitantly
pronounced unfamiliar terms, such as chauvinism and cello. Therefore, they tended
to guess the transcription of the words and ended up mispronunciation.
They are also confused with some words. Cloth and clothe look like having
nearly the exact spelling, but they are pronounced distinctively. Therefore, some
students pronounced clothe like cloth. The articulation of cough influenced their
pronunciations of bough, dough, and hiccough because they all have [ough] in their
spelling, and cough is more familiar to students than the other words.
3.5. Results from survey questionnaire
In the first question of the part personal information, most students recognize

that they have learnt English from 9 to 12 years.

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PART

1:

STUDENTS’

BACKGROUND

INFORMATION

ABOUT

ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION SKILLS
Question 1: How long have you been learning English?
Number of

Question

Options

How long have

1-4 years
5-8years
9-12 years


students
0/50
0/50
37/50

more than 12 years

13/50

you been learning
English?

Percentage (%)
0
0
74
26

Table 3.4: Students’ English learning experience
As presented in table 3.4, English-majored freshmen at TMU have studied
English for an extended period, more than nine years. 74% of students, equivalent
to 37 students, said that they had studied English for about 9-12 years. 13 students,
accounting for 26% of participants, even said they have more than 12-year
experience learning English.
Question 2: How much time do you spend practicing pronunciation daily?

Diagram 3.1: The mean daily time spent on pronunciation practicing of
students
The time spent on practicing is essential for students to improve their

pronunciation as the longer time spent is typically supposed to the better
pronunciation. It can be seen on diagram 3.1 that the participants struggled to
improve their pronunciation. However, nearly a half of students only spent 0-2

25